PS3 Owners Alone In The Dark Come November

Atari's latest update of the Alone in the Dark franchise turned out to be a love it or hate it sort of affair upon its release last month, with reviewers and regular old gamers alike taking up positions so far from the fence that they couldn't even find each other to argue over it. Now Atari has revealed that PlayStation 3 owners will finally be able to either love or hate Edward Carnby's latest outing this November - five months after the game was released on all of the other platforms.

I would say this gives PS3 owners a chance to read reviews, talk to their friends, and form some sort of conclusive opinion about whether or not to pick up the game or not, but after digging through review scores last month for the Frankenreview I still haven't decided whether or not I want to play it, and I bought Dog Island.

PS3 Alone in the Dark this November [Eurogamer]

On The PSN Video Service's "Missing" TV Episodes

Wondering why there are some random episodes missing from the TV shows section of the PS3's new video download service? Many of you are, since you've been bugging us all week about it. Is it an oversight? A legal issue? A conspiracy? No. Here's Sony's explanation:

Yes we are aware of the episodes and seasons that are available. We are working closely with our studio partners to add movie content, individual TV episodes (for rounding out seasons) and also adding whole new seasons. We have already published new content twice since launch last week and will continue to add more on a regular basis.

In other words, they're adding the episodes as they go, not uploading them as a single block. I know, if you're up to Buffy episode 4 and episode 5 is missing this must be simply infuriating, but you're going to have to be patient.

Microsoft might have bagged a big PS3 exclusive at E3 with Final Fantasy XIII. But, Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai really does not want any Xbox 360 exclusives. Like at all. Even abstractly! In an E3 interview with Swedenish daily Aftonbladet, Hirai reportedly says he'd take a bullet to the head over taking an Xbox 360 exclusive. Harsh! In the past few days, Microsoft and Sony have been trading barbs like crazy. It's like 2006 all over again. Anyway, here's the exchange, kindly translated by Kotakuite Mordochai:

Of Course, Final Fantasy XIII Is PC Bound!

Yes, yes, we know. While some just seem to be figuring this out, Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the Xbox 360 *and* the PC. Square Enix announced this way back at its E3 press conference. Probably going lost in the jaw-dropping Xbox 360 announcement. To review, here's how the FFXIII development cycle is going down: First do the PS3 version, then the PC version and then the Xbox 360 version. And hey, there's been Final Fantasy games on the PC game before, so this isn't exactly something out of left field.

In case you missed it, here's our liveblog of Square Enix's E3 presser. In it, I liveblogged: "kitase says they're currently running it on a pc, so they don't know the work load of getting it on the 360. they are putting priority on the PC version." Also, here's a link to a post on the Nvidia site about the PC version.

The PlayStation store has updated today, bringing with it the survival horror creepiness of Siren: Blood Curse, as well as bargains as far as the eye can see! The big news is of course Siren, a Blu-ray-sized game cut up into bite-sized chunks for easy consumption. There are twelve chapters of the game in all, sold in sets of four for $14.99, or in one big, money-saving $39.00 package. Siren is joined by Capcom's 1942: Joint Strike, priced at a more modest $9.99.

In addition to the new games, some older titles are going on sale. For one week only, purchase PAIN, PixelJunk Monsters, High Velocity Bowling, High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition, or Rocketmen: Axis of Evil for only $4.99.

Topping it all off is a PixelJunk Eden demo, Guitar Hero and Rock Band DLC, and a fine assortment of themes, videos, and wallpapers, including entries in each category for Capcom's Street Fighter IV. Definitely a good week to own a PS3!

PlayStation Store Update [Official PlayStation Blog]

Upload Your Eden Gameplay Directly to YouTube

Eden is pretty freaking cool on lots of neat little levels. Gameplay and aesthetic aside, one of the coolest features the game will be supporting is the ability to upload in-game videos directly from your Playstation 3 to YouTube.

Dylan Cuthbert, president and executive producer, of Q-Games, says this new ability will revolutionize how people talk about games.

The YouTube upload feature is going to revolutionize how people share tips. Up until now it has been limited to people with video capture equipment, but from now on, anyone can record their game and upload it directly to YouTube from within the game! It is as simple as pushing one button to start and one button to stop and upload, and there is no affect on the gameplay thanks to the power of the PS3 and its abundance of SPU processors.

The YouTube people are pretty excited too, pointing out that this is likely just the first Playstation 3 game to do this.

Ferrari Challenge Joins PS3 Trophy Support List

The latest PS3 title to get trophy support is Ferrari Challenge, already out in Europe but on its way Stateside already. Mark Cale of publisher System 3 recently participated in a live chat with Eurogamer readers, during which he said:

Mark Cale: We're really impressed with what Sony are doing with Trophies, and we'll be making an update available very soon to allow the game to support these features in the future.

Ferrari Challenge joins titles like PixelJunk Eden, BioShock and Uncharted in adding support for the achievement-esque trophies.

Cale was also asked, incidentally, about whether the PS3 and DS title (no license for the Xbox 360) might make a PC debut, and he was tongue-in-cheek:

Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai is confused. Just look at his Giant Kaz Face, see how tranquilly baffled it is? That's some serious confusion. When Xbox bossman Don Mattrick said Microsoft would sell more consoles than the PS3 this generation, Hirai wasn't quite sure what that meant. How long does Microsoft think the generation is? Is the Xbox 360 going to be around for ten years like Sony claims the PS3 is? Questions, questions, questions. Here's Kaz's take:

Sony: PS3 Is A Global System, 360, Not So Much

Say what you will about his outbursts, Sony's Peter Dille is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve. Dude bleeds Sony. And as is often the case with passionate, outspoken types, as often as they're wrong about something, they're right about something else. Yesterday, Dille was so wrong about Final Fantasy XIII, but today (well, last week, it's from the same E3 interview), speaking about the PS3's global appeal, he's bang on the money:

Developers know they have to amortize that investment over a global marketplace and the best place to do that is on a PlayStation format. Because if you look at the global footprint, PlayStation 3 dominates in Japan where the 360 is really irrelevant. In Europe, the PlayStation 3 is already past the 360. And in the United States you have a dogfight...So back to the third-party community, they’re looking at what’s going on, they’re realigning their development resources to exploit PS3 and I think they understand that if they want to have a global return on their investment, PlayStation 3 is the only place they’re going to get it.

Man's got a point, a point that - as the PS3 begins to slowly, inevitably pull away from the 360 in Europe - will only get sharper!

Sony: ‘Final Fantasy XIII’ Going To XBox 360 Creates ‘Jump Ball’ [MTV]

New Screens For Atlus' Dokapon Kingdom

Atlus loves to talk about how its upcoming PS2/Wii "party RPG," Dokapon Kingdom, is going to make you and all of your friends hate each other as you fight one another to be the best kingdom-defender and win the hand of Princess Penny.

But man, how can there be hostility when these screens look so damn adorable and hilarious, seriously? Fist-in-teeth, girl-squealing adorable?

You're looking at the official box art for Wii. Release date is October 14th, new screens after the jump!

Afro Samurai Gets Comic-Con Appearance

Afro Samurai will be demoed to the public for the first time at this week's Comic-Con International in San Diego, Namco Bandai announced today.

The playable demo will give gamers a chance to check out what looks to be a pretty stylistic fighter based on the Samuel L. Jackson executive produced anime series. There will also be an Afro Samurai panel on Thursday featuring the creators behind the show. Panelist members will include Samuel "Snakes on a Plane" Jackson, THe RZA, Takashi Okazaki and Leo Chu. The group plan to talk about the development process, dish on some behind-the-scenes anecdotes and explain the inspiration behind the characters, music and story.

"Major" PS3 Exclusive To Be Announced In August?

The PlayStation Lifestyle blog promises that on August 3rd, a "MAJOR" PlayStation 3 exclusive will be announced that makes MAG, Killzone 2 and inFAMOUS look like "NOTHING" (yes, the author seems to like all-caps).

The blog also says it'll offer three hints on Saturday, July 26th, stressing that it is a "new" PlayStation 3 "exclusive." In this case, it's the author, not I, who put those words in quotes — does that make anyone else a little leery?

Right now, all that's up in the post is a reminder that the announcement is unrelated to Square Enix's event over the same August date. Uh, oo-kay? Oh yeah, and they've got three words listed, all of them crossed out with strikethrough:

In the wake of that Xbox 360 Final Fantasy XIII announcement, that old chestnut rumor resurfaced that Metal Gear Solid 4 was coming to the Xbox 360. Maybe it will one day, who knows. No idea what kinda deal Sony and Konami have worked out. Other Metal Gear Solid have certainly appeared on other platforms — Microsoft platforms, even. But Hideo Kojima does a good job of explaining how MGS4 was developed especially for the PS3:

Is WipEout HD Failing An Epilepsy Test?

Considering the version we played at TGS last September looked pretty slick, the continued absence of WipEout HD from the PSN is a puzzling one. SCEE's David Reeves said last week the delay is down to a "really, really tricky technical problem", but failed to go into specifics. What kind of problems can cause such a long delay? Here's a possibility: the game's failing important, necessary epilepsy tests. That notion was raised in the comments of our post, and have now been raised by CVG as well, though it's important to note that this is far from confirmed, and Sony have yet to comment on the claims. As far-fetched as they sound (it could just as easily be something like, oh, online MP issues).

Famitsu Boss Says PS3 Penetration Will Accelerate

Famitsu editor Hirokazu Hamamura isn't just an editor. He's a pundit! And he's got a bag full of opinions with him to share. Hamamura thinks the PS3's "slow penetration" is improving. Nice and slow, that's how Sony does it. According to Hamamura:

The PS3’s penetration pace has been slower than I expected. Its higher price tag and software development difficulties have been major causes for stalling the growth of its installed base. However, these problems are gradually being resolved.

If the console gets another price cut by the year-end shopping season, I believe its penetration pace will become accelerated.

Don't blame Hamamura for the "penetration", blame the translator.

‘PS3’s problems are being resolved’ [MCVUK]

Peter Dille Talks FFXIII Exclusivity, Seems Confused

Sony's Peter Dille has never been a man short on words. So when asked by MTV what he thought of Microsoft's Final Fantasy XIII coup, he offered words:

Consumers responded to “GTA” on the PS3 just as they did on the 360. And it becomes a bit of a jump ball. But it didn’t rise the tide for them. And I think if you fast forward to when “Final Fantasy XIII” comes out I think you’re going to have millions of people who grew up playing “Final Fantasy” on the PlayStation playing it on a PlayStation 3. They spent a lot of money, I’m sure, to get “Final Fantasy” onto the 360 but at the end of the day it’s on our platform as well. Which is why we focus on, “Let’s look at what happens when you have “Metal Gear Solid” on your platform … when the NPD numbers come out … I think you’ll see the value of what a real exclusive title does and how it raised the bar for PS3 versus 360.

So...exclusives don't really matter, yet exclusives like MGS4 bring "value" and "raise the bar" for the PS3? You seem confused, Peter.

Sony: ‘Final Fantasy XIII’ Going To XBox 360 Creates ‘Jump Ball’ [MTV]

The reveal of Zipper Interactive's MAG at E3 2008 was slightly tarnished by the fact that what Sony presented at its media briefing was a pre-rendered affair. Sure, it looked like that clip utilized in-game assets, but we've been burned by CG before. Never again!

Fortunately, on the official PlayStation.blog, we get a look at how MAG will run in real-time, thanks to Rade Stojsavljevic, the game's senior producer. Stojsavljevic notes in the comments that the official still of MAG is "an actual screenshot running on a PS3," one "cropped to center on the action."

Impressive? Hard to tell at 500 x 281 resolution, but we're willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

First look at MAG [PlayStation.Blog - thanks, Stephen!]

PopStar Guitar - Oh Look, Another Guitar Game

Electronic Arts. Activision. Konami. XS Games? The relatively tiny publisher is wading into deep waters this October when they ship PopStar Guitar, a guitar playing game for the Wii and PlayStation 2. The game features more than 50 pop songs from artists such as 3 Doors Down, Simple Plan, Blink 182, and many other bands you'd be likely to find on that damn Buzz Cuts CD they keep advertising on television. The game includes single player and co-op mode, allowing one or two players to visit 25 unique venues on their road to making their hands tired.

The difference with PopStar Guitar is the way you control it on the Wii. While the PS2 version is compatible with Rock Band or Guitar Hero controllers, the Wii version ships with something called the AirG, which attaches to your Wii remote to form "an electrifying air guitar." Sounds dangerous. Look, I'm all for competition in the marketplace, but you have to bring something more to the table than a one-shot accessory and more than 50 pop songs " including several masters performed by the original artists." Several?